Description
Book SynopsisDrawing on legal and economic history, Robert E. Wright traces the development of corporate institutions in America, connecting today's financial failures to weakened internal corporate regulation.
Trade Review"An excellent work and stands as the best volume available on the development of the antebellum corporation. . . . [This] should be at least the first word on the subject for many years to come." *
Journal of Economic History *
"Excellent." *
Economic History Review *
"A valuable contribution of the book is the presentation of new data Wright collected with Richard Sylla of NYU on the annual numbers of corporate charters granted by the American states up to 1860. . . . Wright and his collaborators undertook the formidable task of reading through the session laws of every state up to 1860 and collected basic information on each charter they found. . . . This is the first comprehensive count of such incorporations, and the data, which are freely available from the authors, will be quite valuable to scholars." *
EH.net *
"Drawing from newly collected data,
Corporation Nation offers a provocative perspective on the history of the American business corporation and argues for reforms that would improve the governance of modern business enterprises." * Eric Hilt, Wellesley College *
"An engaging and well-written narrative of the development of corporate governance practices in American corporations." * Dan Wadhwani, Eberhardt School of Business *
Table of ContentsChapter 1. The Corporation Nation Emerges
Chapter 2. Before the Constitution
Chapter 3. Corporate Iniquity
Chapter 4. Corporate Ubiquity
Chapter 5. The Benefits of Big
Chapter 6. Governance Principles
Chapter 7. Governance Failures
Chapter 8. Regulation Rising
Chapter 9. Corporate Governance and Regulation since the Civil War
Chapter 10. Reforming Corporate Governance
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
